Epi Center MedSpa Voted Top 5 Day Spa in the Bay Area by ABC7 Bay Area A-list Voters

The Best Services of San Francisco

Former 7×7 executive editor Robin Rinaldi has been hanging around our masthead since 2005. In that time, Rinaldi has become a woman about town and a trusted resource for all things San Francisco. Here she culls a list of 58 miscellaneous “bests” about town, including a few of her own favorites and picks from our staff editors. An SF resident for nine years, Rinaldi is also writing a memoir.

http://www.7×7.com/arts-culture/best-services-san-francisco

San Francisco’s Epi Center MedSpa Receives ‘Top Medical Spa in the Nation’ Award and is Named ‘Best Day Spa’ by the Bay Area Community

SAN FRANCISCO, July 7 /PRNewswire/ — San Francisco’s own Epi Center MedSpa has been selected as the Bay Area’s “Best Day Spa” in the 2010 Best of the BayList Awards, securing its place as a San Francisco institution and Bay Area favorite. Recently recognized as one of only thirteen facilities nationwide to be included in the 2010 DaySpa Top Honors, the LEED® Certified facility continues to offer the best in skincare services since its opening twelve years ago.

The BayList awards on SFGate.com received over 70,000 votes from members of the Bay Area community, with Epi Center MedSpa leading the two-month long contest and eventually securing the top spot. The spa’s commitment to medical-grade skin rejuvenation and eco-friendly practices has propelled the facility as an industry leader and launched it into the national spotlight with strong interest in its medical therapies and organic treatments. In their review of the best spas in the nation, DaySpa Magazine editors recently named Epi Center MedSpa the “Top Medical Spa of 2010”.

“Epi Center MedSpa stood out amongst the competition because it showcases the best of clinical and environmental practices,” says Rhonda Wilson, Executive Editor of DAYSPA Magazine. “Their business model is a good example of where the industry is headed.”

Located at 450 Sutter Street in the heart of San Francisco’s Union Square, Epi Center MedSpa’s luxury retreat is LEED® Certified and prides itself on following stringent eco-conscious and “green” practices. The spa’s wide range of services include medical grade skin rejuvenation therapies, injectable treatments, laser hair removal, and a number of facial and body treatments, as well as offering several lines of advanced skin care products. Offering the original PhotoFacial(SM) as developed by Epi Center MedSpa Co-Founder Dr. Patrick Bitter Sr., the facility also provides training courses for physicians and staff on leading skincare protocol and innovative treatment techniques.

“As the community’s leading medical spa, it is exciting for us to be recognized on both a local and national level,” says Margaret Mitchell, President and Founder of Epi Center MedSpa. “We are thrilled to receive these awards and look forward to continuing our dedication to youthful skin and personalized patient care.”

Top Medical Spa honors a facility that offers a true day-spa experience along with medical skincare services to a high percentage of repeat clients.

Several approaches successfully unite at Epi Center MedSpa in San Francisco. It offers clinical therapies and traditional skincare treatments in a holistic and eco aware setting.

Located in the historic 450 Sutter builiding in the city’s famed Union Square, the facility is LEED-certified by the U.S. Green Building Council (usgbc.org). The interior features beautifully recycled fabrics and woods, low-flow plumbing fixtures, and electronic medical charting that reduces paper, ink and toner usage.

It’s also the only San Fransisco medspa combining clinical treatments and organic skin care. Spa-goers can opt for medical skin rejuvenation services, injectables and nonsurgical body therapies. Facials vary from the resurfacing DermaSweep to the serene Signature Organic Facial.

The spa is led by founding physician Patrick Bitter, M.D.

Clients’ nerves are calmed while awaiting treatments in relaxation that are dressed in muted tones and illuminated by candlelight or a cozy fireplace. “We created a modern spa,” says Margaret Mitchell, president and founder. “But it has the authoritative oversight of a doctor who is also serious about safe and responsible medicine.”

– Katherine Stewart

944 Magazine Hit List

A Breath of Fresh Air

7X7 Magazine Names the Epi Center MedSpa San Francisco’s Greenest Spa

Wednesday, June 18, 2008 12:00 AM

The magazine named the Epi Center MedSpa in San Francisco the “Greenest Spa,” noting its role as a vanguard in the movement to “green” beauty.

SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–San Francisco’s premier lifestyle magazine, 7X7, released its coveted Best Of Issue this month. In this issue the magazine’s editors pick the best the city has to offer and shares its picks with the readers, including the best places to “get groomed and feel pampered.” In this category, the magazine named the Epi Center MedSpa the “Greenest Spa,” noting its role as a vanguard in the movement to “green” beauty.

According to its editors, “Beauty is the new green frontier, and Epi Center MedSpa is in the vanguard, with its organic line of skin-care products and makeup, nontoxic light-based photofacials and more-traditional cleansing treatments that use DermaSweep, a type of particle-free microdermabrasion that’s less invasive (as well as better for the practitioners) than its conventional counterpart. This spring, the decade-old spa also moved into its newly expanded eco-chic digs near Union Square—complete with calming blues, earthy browns and the sounds of trickling waterfalls—and became LEED certified to boot.”

The Epi Center MedSpa is the nation’s original medical spa, and became the nation’s first eco medspa when it opened its doors in April to commemorate both its 10th anniversary and Earth Day. A trendsetter in the skin rejuvenation industry, the office is led by world renowned cosmetic dermatologist Dr. Patrick Bitter Sr. and now combines its beauty enhancing medical procedures with the most effective organic treatments and healthy environment to create a naturally vibrant and youthful appearance with minimal downtime.

The Epi Center MedSpa worked with leaders in eco architecture and design to create an elegant and luxurious LEED certified eco medical office and spa. Eric Corey Freed, founder of organicArchitect and author of Green Building and Remodeling for Dummies, ensured the Epi Center MedSpa conforms to the strict standards established by the U.S. Green Building Council. Justin Martinkovic, principal in the San Francisco commercial and residential architecture firm MartinkovicMilford, served as the lead architect on the project. Eco Fabulous founder and style guru Zem Joaquin served as the “green style police” for the project, ensuring that its design adhered to architect and designer William McDonough’s strict “Cradle to Cradle” standards. Cradle to Cradle means as many aspects of the medspa as possible are designed to follow natural systems to create a building that allows nature and commerce to co-exist in a way that supports the health of the planet.

Joaquin says laser hair removal, which is one of several light-based treatments offered by the eco medspa, is one of her favorite eco-friendly treatments on the menu. “I like the laser hair removal because for me, I know I’m saving a ton of water and I no longer have to waste all those razors and razor blades.”

The Epi Center MedSpa offices are light, elegant and inviting, cultivating San Francisco chic meets eastern simplicity in its design. It is constructed using eco materials, from recycled and FSC-certified wood, marble flooring and countertops, to the eco paints and recycled fabrics in a color palette that reflects those found in San Francisco’s natural environment. The eco medspa’s treatment rooms are named after our local natural treasures, from the Farallon Islands to rare and endangered animals. It is also energy efficient and conserves resources through its lighting, recycling, electronic medical charting, digital photography and water filters that eliminate the need for bottled water.